Slots: There is no limit to the number of applications you may submit under the Planning, Forum, National Implementation, Applied Research, or Early Career Research project types. You may only submit one application under the Community-Centered Implementation project type.
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, August 9th, 2024, 5pm PT Contact RII.
LOI: September 20, 2024
External Deadline: March 10, 2025
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 45
Anticipated Award Amount: $8,500,000
Link to Award: https://www.imls.gov/grants/available/laura-bush-21st-century-librarian-program
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian (LB21) grant program aims to build a diverse library and archival workforce to meet the information needs of communities and increase the institutional capacity of libraries, archives, and library and information science graduate programs.
The program supports projects that provide training and professional development to library and archives professionals; develop faculty and information leaders; and recruit, educate, and retain the next generation of library and archives professionals. We expect LB21 projects to:
influence practice across one or more disciplines within the library and archives fields;
reflect a thorough understanding of current practice, knowledge about the subject matter, and an awareness of and support for current priorities in the field;
use collaboration, as needed, to demonstrate buy-in, input, and access to appropriate expertise;
employ inclusive outreach strategies to disseminate activities, results, and findings; and
generate measurable results.
The LB21 program supports the recruitment, development, and retention of a diverse workforce of library and archives professionals to meet the information needs of their communities.
Projects can support the recruitment, training, education, and retention of pre-professionals, students, faculty, and the current library archives workforce.
We encourage applicants to work collaboratively with partners such as archives, libraries, museums, school systems, universities, extension programs, youth-serving organizations, departments of correction, and workforce/economic development organizations, where applicable.
Reflecting our agency-level goal to champion lifelong learning, the LB21 Program has two
program goals and two objectives associated with each goal. You should align your proposed
project with one of these program goals and one of the associated objectives. Clearly identify
your goal and objective choice in your Preliminary Proposal Narrative and, if invited, your
Invited Full Proposal Narrative.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.